system planned in my head for gery water fitering

hey folks

so i my in a mobile home... i want to filter the water from the shower and im picking up 50 gallon
barrels on tuesday

so as the mobile is only 16" (400mm) above ground level... i plann to drop the barrles into the ground and
cant figure out the best way to insulate the barrels for winter as they will be 2/3rds of the way into the ground
any help/advice on that would be great!

i plan to use sand, wash stone and maybe charcoal?? in the barrels to filter the water... the filtered water will be for watering
my veg plot and polytunnels

also i have dug a 3m (10foot well) and the water table is 700mm below ground level.. i have half the pad stones in place
to build for a well house to filter the water for the shower and kitchen sink for washing plates, cups etc

i wont try to filter it to drinking quaity yet as it seems complicated... maybe after i get the grey water and the water for the shower
and kitchen sink sorted and working

so thats basically it has anyone else built a system like this and did they insulate the barrels in the ground to prevent freezing during winter?

so want to get this done and done right as i have been living here for 18months with no running water or gery water system

any advise help would be greatly appreicated

i live in the north county dublin... ireland

Insulating the barrels shouldn't be too hard, in theory. The question is, in your climate, will you be adding enough heat to keep them from freezing, even if they are insulated. Figure that out before you proceed any further. What is your backup plan when it does freeze?

As to insulating, 1) bury them as deeply as you can, ground only freezes so deep. 2) Don't try to match the shape of a round barrel, make an insulated box of rigid insulation, drop the barrel in and surround by sand, cover with more rigid foam.

Thank You Kindly,
Topher

Hi Stan,

I haven't built what you are doing exactly, but I do have some experience by failure with greywater recently. What I discovered in the end was that I needed a thorough foundation before attempting it because I kept having to change everything, costing time and money. I would highly recommend Art Ludwig's "Create an Oasis with Greywater." If I would have read that book first, I would have known what I was doing. I do know that you are not supposed to store greywater, as it gets icky, and you don't have to filter it if you are putting it on your trees. Garden is not OK as well as grass is not OK. His philosophy is that the easiest and simplest systems work best, and I would have to agree. Good luck with your project. I hope everything turns out splendid.

I ended up with a three way on the inside plumbing of my kitchen sink ( important since you may want to divert water away from your plants for various reasons), and the grey water going out of the wall through tubing that led to five mulch basins next to trees/bushes on the side of the house. Basically, I water the plants on my west side wall while I'm doing the dishes. I'll have to check on the distribution to the trees occasionally as the mulch beds and everything settles in. We are working with gravity here, and it took a lot of digging and tinkering to get it just right. I'm still crossing my fingers that it will stand the test of time. I'm also curious to see what kind of saturation I'm getting, and if I still need to water etc.

ok thanks for the input folks

i have a good sized willow belt which im thinking would it be better to send the grey water through a chain
of 2 or 3, 1m square containers and run out of the end of them into the willow belt?
this will save on to much digging and also the land slopes gentle from outlet from shower to willow belt?

if that is a goer il have to decide on either reeds or sand in containers to filter water?

digging hole for two 50 gallon barrels, which i picked up yesterday(they had acetone in them.. they
varpourise and should be ok with a couple of flushes of water im told... cant find how to clean them on the interweb),
and getting foundations in the bottom of hole, insulate and then... alot of labour

outside of wall under the kitchen window im putting the sink outlet, it is 1.2m high im planning to put two smaller containers measuring 14"
diameter and 2ft tall and filtering the grey water from sink through sand and stone filter. it is extra work two separate systems but would like to try
the two different systems to compare results

more planning, research and questions on the cards!

thanks again topher and celia for your intput

o and i am going to order that book too thanks